Séralini Graphical abstract
Gilles-Éric Séralini has recently published a paper titled Toxicity of formulants and heavy metals in glyphosate-based herbicides and other pesticides. The study reveals damning findings of the true toxicity from Glyphosate-based herbicide (GBH) formulations and pesticide formulations. Séralini and his team studied glyphosate alone and its 14 formulations to determine the toxicological effects and how they happen. It is important and telling to understand that, despite being in use since 1974, Séralini’s effort represents the first attempt at testing the full spectrum of GBH formulations.
Also relevant to this story was the fact that throughout 2017, emails released during consumer lawsuits against Monsanto in the US District Court in San Francisco were published online and collectively deemed The Monsanto Papers. The internal Monsanto documents and emails show, in no uncertain terms, that their Roundup® formulation was not tested by Monsanto for possible carcinogenic properties. Monsanto’s Head Toxicologist Donna Farmer, PhD, when advising executives on public messaging about Roundup®, wrote:
“…you cannot say that Roundup is not a carcinogen ... we have not done the necessary testing on the formulation to make that statement.”
Another Monsanto Paper’s email from Regulatory Affairs Lead at Monsanto Europe, Xavier Belvaux, corroborated:
“We do not conduct sub-chronic, chronic or terotogenicity studies with our formulations.”
Thanks to Séralini and his team, the public is now getting a glimpse into the toxic effects of GBH formulations. According to the study, Séralini and researchers stated:
“We exposed plants and human cells to the components of formulations, both mixed and separately, and measured toxicity and human cellular endocrine disruption below the direct toxicity experimentally measured threshold.” The researchers found that the toxic effects and endocrine disrupting properties of the formulations were mostly due to the formulants and not to glyphosate.”
Séralini’s study we on to state:
“In this work, we also identified by mass spectrometry the heavy metals arsenic, chromium, cobalt, lead and nickel, which are known to be toxic and endocrine disruptors, as contaminants in 22 pesticides, including 11 G-based ones.”
It should be noted that during all regulatory investigation and rulings, past and present, the safety levels and licensure of glyphosate and other declared active ingredients in pesticides has been based upon cherry-picked, and often industry funded/supported studies.
All of the studies have looked at glyphosate in isolation and not combined with its formulants, as it is being used in the real world. Put simply, real-life exposures of pesticides and herbicides have never been studied and Séralini’s study, the first to look at such exposures, is nothing short of alarming.
Among many key points, the recent study concludes by stating:
“All these results could shed a new light on the toxicity assessment of genetically modified plants tolerant to Roundup, because they could contain high levels of toxic formulants, and on the impact of these on the environment. Indeed, they are used for food and feed; and their assessment protocols should be upgraded”
The study also found oxidized petroleum distillates such as families of polyoxyethylenamines in the formulants along with arsenic, cobalt, chromium, nickel and lead at levels "well above admissible ones in water."
In light of Séralini’s recent findings, two further studies should be noted. First, on September 2016, the national grassroots coalition Moms Across America issued a press release detailing the findings of glyphosate contamination in five vaccines tested by Microbe Inotech Laboratories, Inc. of St. Louis, Missouri. Second, a 2016 study conducted by Italian researchers found all 43 human vaccines tested were contaminated with heavy metal nanoparticles.
When real science is done and released to the public for discussion, the baseless assurances from corporations and global regulatory agencies evaporate. The evidence is now more clear than ever for global regulatory agencies to act swiftly in unison to vanquish these toxic pesticides and herbicides, deal appropriately with the corporations who profited from willfully poisoning generations, and begin to understand the damage to human health and our global food supply we all now face.
Will regulatory agencies and our elected officials act in light of Séralini’s new study?
Also relevant to this story was the fact that throughout 2017, emails released during consumer lawsuits against Monsanto in the US District Court in San Francisco were published online and collectively deemed The Monsanto Papers. The internal Monsanto documents and emails show, in no uncertain terms, that their Roundup® formulation was not tested by Monsanto for possible carcinogenic properties. Monsanto’s Head Toxicologist Donna Farmer, PhD, when advising executives on public messaging about Roundup®, wrote:
“…you cannot say that Roundup is not a carcinogen ... we have not done the necessary testing on the formulation to make that statement.”
Another Monsanto Paper’s email from Regulatory Affairs Lead at Monsanto Europe, Xavier Belvaux, corroborated:
“We do not conduct sub-chronic, chronic or terotogenicity studies with our formulations.”
Thanks to Séralini and his team, the public is now getting a glimpse into the toxic effects of GBH formulations. According to the study, Séralini and researchers stated:
“We exposed plants and human cells to the components of formulations, both mixed and separately, and measured toxicity and human cellular endocrine disruption below the direct toxicity experimentally measured threshold.” The researchers found that the toxic effects and endocrine disrupting properties of the formulations were mostly due to the formulants and not to glyphosate.”
Séralini’s study we on to state:
“In this work, we also identified by mass spectrometry the heavy metals arsenic, chromium, cobalt, lead and nickel, which are known to be toxic and endocrine disruptors, as contaminants in 22 pesticides, including 11 G-based ones.”
It should be noted that during all regulatory investigation and rulings, past and present, the safety levels and licensure of glyphosate and other declared active ingredients in pesticides has been based upon cherry-picked, and often industry funded/supported studies.
All of the studies have looked at glyphosate in isolation and not combined with its formulants, as it is being used in the real world. Put simply, real-life exposures of pesticides and herbicides have never been studied and Séralini’s study, the first to look at such exposures, is nothing short of alarming.
Among many key points, the recent study concludes by stating:
“All these results could shed a new light on the toxicity assessment of genetically modified plants tolerant to Roundup, because they could contain high levels of toxic formulants, and on the impact of these on the environment. Indeed, they are used for food and feed; and their assessment protocols should be upgraded”
The study also found oxidized petroleum distillates such as families of polyoxyethylenamines in the formulants along with arsenic, cobalt, chromium, nickel and lead at levels "well above admissible ones in water."
In light of Séralini’s recent findings, two further studies should be noted. First, on September 2016, the national grassroots coalition Moms Across America issued a press release detailing the findings of glyphosate contamination in five vaccines tested by Microbe Inotech Laboratories, Inc. of St. Louis, Missouri. Second, a 2016 study conducted by Italian researchers found all 43 human vaccines tested were contaminated with heavy metal nanoparticles.
When real science is done and released to the public for discussion, the baseless assurances from corporations and global regulatory agencies evaporate. The evidence is now more clear than ever for global regulatory agencies to act swiftly in unison to vanquish these toxic pesticides and herbicides, deal appropriately with the corporations who profited from willfully poisoning generations, and begin to understand the damage to human health and our global food supply we all now face.
Will regulatory agencies and our elected officials act in light of Séralini’s new study?
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